Molded pulp valve tray and package



R. L. EM ERY MOLDED PULP VALVE TRAY AND PACKAGE March 5, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Aug. 25, 1954 RICHARD L. EMEF'QY BY I W *KJE HIS ATTORNEYS.

March 5, 1957 R. L. EMERY 2,783,879

MOLDED PULP VALVE TRAY AND PACKAGE Filed Aug. 25, '1954 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

RICHARD L. EMERY BY 2,783,879 MOLDED PULP VALVE TRAY AND PACKAGE Richard L. Emery,

Fairfield, Maine, assignor to Keyes Fibre Company, Maine Portland, Maine, a corporation of I Application August 25, 1954, Serial No. 452,067 2 Claims. (Cl. 206-65) This invention relates to the packing of elongated cylindrical objects having laterally projecting flanges at one end, and particularly relates to the packaging of articles such as poppet type valve heads. When relatively heavy articles such aspoppet valve heads are packed for storage and shipment, it is necessary to provide some sort of cushioning means between the articles in order to prevent them from being thrown against quently damaging each other. It is, therefore, necessary to provide a spacing means which will be-sufiiciently resilient to act as a cushion for the articles and which,

each other and conseat the same time, will be strong enough to support the It is one object of the present'invention to accomplish the abovepurposes by prqviding'a spacing and support means-which-is strong butresilieng'which'is' adapted to support the articles in highly compact arrangement and which is inexpensive to make.

Another object of the spacing means which is. capableof supporting individual articles oftne type above described against both longitudinal and axial displacement Other objects and many of the attendant advantages of this invention will be readily appreciated as the same becomes b't'terunderstood by reference; to the following detaileddescriptionwhen considered'in connection with the accompanying drawings wherein:

Fig. 1 is a top plan view .of a tray' embodyingthe invention.

Fig. 2 is a side elevational Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken on line 3-3 of Fig. 1 and showing two trays arranged in stacked relation with poppet valves, shown in dotted outline, positioned thereon.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary sectional view of a container showing an end elevational view of a plurality of trays holding valves in stacked position within the container.

Referring now in greater detail to the drawings wherein similar reference characters refer to similar parts, there is shown a molded pulp tray, generally designated 10, which comprises a rim 12 completely surrounding the tray. Inwardly of the rim 12, at one side of the tray, are a series of pockets 14, each of which is provided with inclined side walls 16, as best shown in Fig. 2, and with a common inclined end wall 18, as best shown in Fig. 1. All the pockets 14 are similar except the pockets at each end, these end pockets, designated 20, being of greater width than the others.

Each of the pockets 14 and 20 is spaced from the adjaview of the tray shown in In addition, it i's present invention is to provide ice cent pockets by a raised wall 22, each of these walls 22 extending downwardly only part way toward the horizontal plane of the bottom walls of the pockets 20, and each forming indentations cave bottom portion, as at 24.

The end wall 18, which is common to all the pockets- 14, is also common to the hollow posts 26 behind the pockets. Each of the posts 26 is elongated and provided with inclined side walls 28 and a straight, horizontal top 31 Each of the inclined side walls 28 extends down to a horizontal floor 32 which lies in the horizontal plane of the rim 12. Connecting the posts 26 to each other are hollow posts 34 which act as boundaries for the floor 32. Each post 34 extends above the plane of the floor 32 butbelow the plane of, the posts 26, as best seen in Fig. These posts 34 are, -therefore,actually upwardly extend ing indentations.

Behind each of the posts 26 is a pocket 36, similar to but complementary in cross-sectional shape to'the posts 26, one of the inclined end .walls 38' of the pocket 36 being integral with the adjacent posts 26 and the opposite inclined end wall 40 being common with posts 42.

As best seen in Fig. 3, at each side of the pockets 36 are curved side walls 44 which extend downwardly a part of the way toward the horizontal-plane of the bottom of the pockets 36 to form an inverted saddle or land portion between the pockets. As best seen in Fig. 3, integral with each of the walls 44 is an inclined wall 46 which extends upwardly in common with wall 40 beyond, the plane of the rim 12 but which stops short of the top plane of the post 42 so that a recessed'saddle or bridge portion 48 is formed between laterally adjacent posts 42.

The rear wall 50 of each of the posts 42 is downwardly inclined and forms a common end Wall with a pocket 52. Each of the pockets 52 are separated from each other by partially upwardlyextending walls 54"which form an inverted saddle or 'landportion atabout the same level as lands 445.1"Each pocket 52 is, furthermore, provided with an upw ardly inclined rear wall 56 which is common to posts 58' similar to posts 42. Recessed saddles or bridge portions 60, similar to .bridge portions 48, are formed between adjacent posts 58. I

The ,rearwardly inclined walls 6201: posts 58 are each common to a pocket 64, these pockets 64 being similar to pockets 52. The pockets 64 are spaced laterally from each other by partially upwardly extending land portions 66'similar to land portions 54 and extending to the same horizontal plane to form similar inverted saddles.

' The rear wall 68 of eachpocket 64 forms a common wall with'a post 70. Each of the posts 70 are laterally 'spaced from each-other by abridge portion '72 -which is formed by curved walls 74 extending upwardly to below the level of the top of the posts 70. Each post 70 has a rear wall 76 which inclines downwardly toform the front wall of a pocket 78. The curved walls 74 are each curved rearwardly downwardly, as best shown in Fig. 3, toward narrow indentations 80. Each indentation 80 has a rear upwardly inclined wall 82 which, together with the upwardly inclined walls 84 of the pockets 78, form a series of plateaus 86 at the level of the rim 12. Each plateau 86 is bordered by an upwardly inclined rear wall 88 which is common with an upwardly extending indentation 90. Each pocket 78 has a rear wall 92 which is common with the front wall of a post 94. The posts 94 extend beyond the top of the indentations 90, the top of the indentations forming recesses therebetween. The indentations 90 and posts 94 then incline downwardly to the rim 12 which borders the entire tray.

At each end of the tray 10, the construction is slightly different. Here, the pockets 20 corresponding to pockets 14, the posts 96 corresponding to posts 30, the pockets 98 corresponding to pockets 36, the posts 100 correspond- Patented Mar. 5, 19571 provided with a slightly con ing" t6 posts 42, the pockets 102 corresponding to pockets 52, the posts 104 corresponding to posts 58, the pockets 106 corresponding to pockets 64, the posts 108 corresponding to posts 70, thepockets 110 corresponding to pockets 78and the posts 112 corresponding to posts 94, are slrwider than their corresponding "parts in the central portion of the tray.

As is best seen in Fig. 1, poppet valves 114 or the like, each of which comprises an elongated cylindrical stem and a wide circular head, are arranged laterally to each other on a tray so that the head of one valve is adjacent to the head of another. This alternate arrangement permits the maximum use of available space. In this arrangement, as best seen in Figs 3, the head of one valve is seated in one of the concave front ledges at the bottom or indentations 24 and the valves laterally adjacent thereto are each seated in one of the concave ledges at the hammer indentations 80. These concave indentations prevent axial movement of the valves which rest on the recessed bridges 34, 48, 60 and 72. These recessed bridges cushion the valves and are spaced from the bot tom of the container or from thenext lower tray by poc ltjets l t, 36, 52, '64 and 78. The valves are preventd from lateral movement by posts 26, 42, 58 and 70 on either side thereof.

One longitudinal edge of the tray is complementary to the opposite longitudinal edge. By this construction, when alternate trays are turned 180 relative to one another and placed in stacked arrangement, as in container 116 in Fig. 4, the pockets abut each other and the hollow posts are spaced from each other so that the pockets act as cushioning members while the posts form a pocket for holding the head of a valve. This is best shown'in Fig. 3. The same e'fiec't is obtained when the top surface of one of the trays is reversed relative to the other.

The fwider proportions of the end rows of alternate posts and pqckets provide stronger and more rigid end portions which resist deformationto afgre'ater extent than thejnarrowerpor'tions at the center of the tray. ,bvionslyrnahy modifications and variations of the 'finvention are possible in the light of the above teat: gs. It is, therefore, to be 'understood that within th" fscop'e'of the appended claims the invention may be pi'ifcticed otherwise than as specifically described.

What is claimed in this invention is:

tray for holding elongated articles havingenlai'gedlaterally-extending, disc-shaped heads at one end comprising a generally rectangular sheet having arim portion, a pluralityof parallel rows of hollow, upstanding posts extending longitudinally thereof, a plurality of parallel rowsofpockets with one row of said pockets interposed between each pair of adjacent rows of posts, the posts in each row being separated from each other by bridge portions positioned in a common plane intermediate the top plane of the posts and the plane of the rim, the pockets in each row being separated from each other by land portions positioned in a plane intermediate the bottom plane of said pockets and the plane of the rim, the marginal row along one longitudinal edge of said sheet comprising a row of pockets and the marginal row along the opposite edge comprising a row of posts, said marginal rows on each side of the sheet and the rowsimmediately adjacent thereto being provided with complementary and oppositely extending indentations adapted to resiliently receive the head of an article resting laterally on thebridge portions of said sheet.

2. A package comprising a "container, a plurality of trays in vertically arranged position within said container, each tray being of similar configuration to each of the others but being reversed relative to the trays vertically adjacent thereto on each side, each tray comprising a generally rectangular sheet having a rim portion, a plurality of parallel rows of hollow, upstanding posts extendinglongitudinally thereof, a plurality of parallel rows of pockets, with one row of said pockets interposed between each pair of adjacent rows of posts, the posts in each row being "separated from each other by bridge portions position'ed in a common plane intermediate the top plane of the posts and the plane of the rim, the pockets in each row being separated from each other by land portions positioned in a plane intermediate the bottom plane of said pockets and the plane of the rim, the marginal row along one longitudinal edge of said sheet comprising a row of pockets and the marginal row along the opposite edge 'e'otnprising a 'row of posts, said marginal rows on each side or the sheet and the rows immediately adjacent thereto being provided with complementary and 0p positely eirtending indentations, and elongated cylindrical article's positioned between each adjacent pair of said 7 vertically-arranged ha s, said articles resting on the bridge portions of the lower 'trayof the pair and abutting the land portions of the upper tray of the pair, said arficles having enlarged, laterallyextending, disc-shaped heads on at leastjone end thereof, said heads being-positi'oned between and seated withinvertically aligned, oppositely'ext'ending indentations on said upper and lower trays.

References Citedin the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,895,249 Julia Jan. 24, 1933 457,197 *Beckman Dec. 2a, 1948 2,568,769 Shepard Sept. 25, 1951 FOREIGN PATENTS 941,229 Great Britain July 5, 1948 

